Page 90 of The Devil You Don't Know

I swallowed down the fear, keeping my chin raised high. I wouldn’t back down from this.

Kai’s jaw tightened as he stared at me, trying to find what he wanted to see. He wanted me to turn my back on him—to abandon whatever was growing between us right then and there. The first show of real commitment, and he wanted to run—no, wantedmeto run.

I brought my hand to the knife hilt, wrapping my palm on top of his. “Do it then,” I dared.

Kai blinked, confusion running rampant across his face.

“If you are going to threaten me with a good time, then make good on it,” I said, pulling the knife closer. “Kill me. Like you said, that’s the type of man you are, right?”

Kai furrowed his eyebrows, not saying anything.

“That would make all this easier, wouldn’t it? Whatever secret thing you have going on that I landed in the middle of? With me out of the way, your life gets a whole lot easier.”

Kai struggled against my grasp, pulling the knife back. A small prick of pain traveled down my neck, along with the warmth of blood. I didn’t fear it, though. I didn’t turn my back on it.

He glanced at the red rolling between my breasts. “You have no fucking idea,” he muttered. Kai dropped the knife to his side, backing up toward the door.

I chased after him, our fight exploding into the hallway.

“You are a fucking coward,” I yelled at him. “A dramatic coward! All because what? Because my mom and dad want to meet you. Are you so afraid of a future that you would throw all of this away?” I grabbed his hand, tugging him back toward me.

He twisted his wrist. He threw my hand away before wrapping his fingers around my neck. He held me there for a moment, fire in his eyes. My breaths struggled to escape as he squeezed.

“Don’t you get it! There is no future for me that compliments yours,” Kai said, pausing. His voice lowered. “Death doesn’t complement the living, it destroys it.”

He paused, his shoulders tense. Kai stared at me as if he was torn between two thoughts: killing me and throwing me up against the wall to fuck me. I wanted to believe the second, but the sting at my throat burned when he glanced down.

“Whatever this is?” he asked. “This…between us…is…"

The words he wouldn’t say hung between us.

“Nothing?” I finished for him. Tears gathered in my eyes, my heart cracking. “Nothing but a hookup, a good time, a tryst.”

Kai scoffed. “This isn’t just on me, Audry,” he said against my unspoken taunt. “You enjoyed getting with a man like me. You enjoyed the danger, but it’s not all fun and games anymore.”

“I don’t care,” I said, refusing to back down again. Stubbornness was one of my many talents. “I know you feel it.” I dragged my hand up his chest as his hand fell slack around my neck.

Kai rolled his lips into his mouth, staring at me with that same dead intensity. He kissed me, the world spinning around us. His mouth moved with mine, his hands tangled in my hair. I wanted nothing more than to fall into it, but this was one of those moments that felt heavy, wrong, and final.

He pulled away, stepping into the elevator. “I may be a coward, but at least I won’t be taking you down with me.”

The doors shut before I could respond.

Chapter 42

Kai

“Fuck!” I punched the wall, my knuckles cracking and screaming in pain. My voice echoed around the room. I let out a groan, frustration dripping from my bones.

Why was I so fucking stupid? I blew up my chance with the perfect girl for me. Audry complimented me in ways I was too afraid to admit. I wanted her around me. Her confidence filled me with my own, her soft eyes could relax me in moments—but I’d turned her down.

I didn’t just turn her down. No, I torched the whole damn thing. I didn’t want my violence to taint her. I didn’t want what I did in life to drag her to hell with me. She deserved better.

“Fucking Logan,” I yelled at the wall. If I hadn’t taken his words to heart, if I had shut him up sooner, I wouldn’t be sitting here wanting to throw up the entire contents of my stomach. My knuckles wouldn’t be bloody and swollen, and the suffocating feeling in my throat would be non-existent.

As if I summoned the demon by merely thinking about him, Logan appeared in the doorway to my bedroom. He peeked his head in, glancing around at the chaos I left in my wake. A poster was torn down, a hole in the wall that I would need to plaster later, and papers scattered.

“Did you summon a tornado?” he asked.

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